The Minister for Tourism and Sport, Dr Jim McDaid, has strongly denied claims by Pat Hickey, the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), that he was poorly briefed and that a large proportion of his Dail comments, which were highly critical of both the OCI and Hickey, were inaccurate.

Since last Wednesday there have been continual and escalating verbal exchanges between the Minster and Hickey over a range of issues, primarily the funding for the World Student Games and the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan next year. The Minister was also highly critical of the OCI for threatening job lay-offs.

Dr McDaid made it clear yesterday that he was still looking for (a) a statement of bank balances in all accounts held by the OCI on December 31st, 1996 and (b) a cash statement for 1997 inclusive of a separate forecast of the OCI's funding requirements for administration costs and other activities, as requested by his predecessor.

Both, claim the Minister, are still outstanding and until such time as he has this information in his possession he is not in a position to give administration grants to the OCI.

The Minister, in his brief, made a distinction between accounts and cash-flow statements and pointed out that the critical issue is in relation to the OCI's application for 1997 funding.

Dr McDaid goes on to say that he is very concerned about the protracted delay by the Olympic Council in providing the information sought in respect of the OCI's own administration grant.

He further states that he requires from the OCI a cash-flow statement for 1997 and the cash balance at December 31st, 1996. The Minister stresses that this information is a standard request under government accounting regulations and financial guidelines in respect of grant aid.